Windlass



UNITE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MOSES G. FARMER, OF SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS.

WINDLASS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 25,003, dated August 9, 1859.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Moses G. FARMER, of Salem, in the county of Essexand State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Vindlasses;and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exactdescription of the construction andr mode of use of the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings and to the letters and figuresmarked thereon.

Figure I, shows the position of the tripod when in use. Fig. VI, is aside view of the apparatus. Fig. VII, is a front view of the Same. Theother figures are hereinafter' referred to.

The obj ect of my invention is the raising or lowering of heavy weights,-weighing ships anchors ;-extracting stumps and all work of thatdescription.

My machine consists of a strong upright frame of hard wood or ofmetal,-a roller or axle with a ratchet wheel on one end, or on both endsof it,-a toggle-joint, ratchet and lever for actuating` the ratchetwheel with its axle,a retaining pawl or click for securing the progressmade in turning the ratchet wheel,-and an apparatus for governing thepawls or ratchets, so that a weight can be lowered by the windlass withthe same facility that one could be raised.

Fig. VI is a side view of the machine showing the roller A; the ratchetwheel B,-the lever C,-which with the actuating ratchets D forms atoggle-joint at E.

F is the retaining click which serves to prevent the ratchet-wheel frombeing moved backward by the weight while the lever is being raised. Achain or rope r may be attached to the roller A, to which any heavy bodymay be connected that it may be desirable to raise.

I-I-H are two arms which support the axis I, of the lever Cg-upon thisaxis is the collar J, which carries a spring K, that when properlyadjusted, can act upon the arm L, projecting from the click F. From thecollar J, there projects a hook M, which serves (when the collar J, isproperly adjusted) to act upon and bend the spring N, which projectsfrom the actuating ratchet or click D. The use of the collar J -springK- arm L- hook M- and spring N, is to follows.

enable one to lower a weight by the action of the lever C. The two mainposts of the machine are seen at C, 0,-they are held together by the twocrossed bars P, Q, at the upper ends of these posts there is a roller R,having near the middle a mortice U, to receive the end of the supportinglever V, thus forming a tripod, which may be held together if necessaryby suitable clamps or stays.

I will now describe the action of the machine when employed to raise aweight which may be attached by a chain or rope to the roller A;-raisethe lever C sufficiently far to allow the ratchet D, to engage a toothof the wheel B, and turn the collar J to the right so far that the hookM cannot interfere with the spring N,-then depress the lever C. Thiswill enable the ratchet- D, to cause the wheel B to advance, in-thedirection of the arrow, one tooth. Near the end of the downward motionof the lever C the click F will fall into a tooth of the wheel B andprevent its being turned backward by the action of the weight r when thepressure is removed from the lever. The outer end of the click F is theheaviest and serves by the action of gravity to cause the short arm toengage in the wheel B. If now the lever C be again raised until theratchet D engages another tooth, the rotation of the wheel may be againadvanced, and' this repeated as often as desirable.

If a weight is to be lowered by the action of the machine, it may beaccomplished as The collar J is fitted to the axis I so that it can beturned and fixed in any desired position, and may have a set-screw orpin Z to prevent it from turning. This col lar J is so placed that whenthe lever C is raised nearly as far as would be necessary to take holdof another tooth, the spring N shall abut against the end of the curvedarm M, and the further raising of the lever C would cause the spring Nto lift the ratchet .D from the teeth of the wheel B. If now the lever Cbe depressed, the ratchet D will take hold of one of the teeth of B;-thespring N will leave the arm M g-the spring K will strike against the armL projecting from the click F, and tend to unlock this click, which itwill do so soon as the ratchet D presses against a tooth of B and takeso the strain from the click F. Now, if the lever C be raised, the wheelB will be rotated backward by the action of the weight acting throughthe chain or rope on the roller A.

As the lever C moves upward, the spring N strikes against the arm M, andwhen a tooth of the wheel B has caught the click F, (which has beenreleased by the upward motion of the lever from the action of the springK) the spring N, which has previously come into contact with the hook M,and is thereby bent, will release the ratchet D from that tooth of thewheel B, with which it is connected; and now if the lever C be againdepressed, the spring N will not leave the hook M in season for theratchet D to take the same tooth which it did before,- but it willadvance and coming over its point will engage the tooth next in advanceof the one it was previously acting upon, and near the end of thedownward motion of the lever will move the wheel B slightlyforWard,-enough to allow the spring K to disengage the click F ;-now ifthe lever C be again raised, the wheel B will be suffered to revolvebackward another notch, and then a weight may be lowered notch by notch,with as much facility as one can can be raised.

It is evident that the action of the ratchet D is dili'erent from theusual action of a lever-ratchetand toothed wheel, which are usuallyarranged as in Figs. II and III.

In Fig. II the ratchet D acts somewhat in degree as in my invention att-he commencement of the downward stroke of the lever,-but if the motionin Fig. II were continuous until the ratchet D and lever C wereparallel, the point of the ratchet D would slip from the teeth of Bwhile in mine the joint E is so placed that the nearer D and C come tobeing parallel, the more powerfully the ratchet D acts to cause rotationin the wheel B.-It is plain that the powerful principle of thetoggle-joint cannot be applied to a ratchet with a hook as in Fig. III,since the toggle-joint only acts by thrusting while the ratchet in Fig.III acts by pulling.

In Fig. IV is shown the commencement of the stroke of the lever and inFig. V is shown the end of the stroke in my machine. It is evident thatthe thrusting power of the ratchet D upon the wheel B is proportioned tothe power applied at C; also to the ratig plied to the end of the leverC,-then the force exerted to turn the wheel B will be nearly CI IW XXiix and to the ratio and since the ratio increases from thecommencement to the end of the stroke,-so the advantage or purchase ofthe machine will increase in proportion to the shortness of the stroke;-consequently for a ships windlass it might be advisable to make awheel with numerous teeth so that when a heavy strain came, it could beovercome by taking a single tooth at a lift,-and when under a lighterstrain the work wouldv progress faster by taking hold at intervals oftwo or three teeth.

I claim- 1. The combination of the roller A, the ratchet wheel B, theretaining ratchet F and the actuating ratchet D-with the lever C andtoggle joint E, so arranged that the thrusting power of the toggle jointE shall be wholly exhausted when the lever C is fully depressed and thejoint E brought into a straight line which intersects the axis I and thepoint of the actuating ratchet which is in contact with a tooth of thewheel B.

2. I claim the means herein described, of permitting the backward motionof the roller A, vizby causing the motion of the lever C to releasealternately the actuating and retaining ratchets through the agency ofsuch means as the springs N K, the projecting arms L M, and the roperposition of the collar J, substantia ly as herein described.

MOSES Gr. FARMER. [n s.]

In presence of- SAM. BATCHELDER, Jr., J. M. BATCHELDER.

